How Pete Holmes Morphed His Despair Into Comedy With Crashing

Deep in the throes of shooting his new HBO comedy, Crashing, Pete Holmes says he felt decidedly strange and, on occasion, even a bit weirded out by the circumstances. It was, as he recounts on a recent afternoon, as if he were watching his real life play out before him… albeit with actors. "It was a bit like therapy and a bit like an episode of The Twilight Zone," the comedian says of revisiting arguably the most difficult period of his life for the single-camera comedy.

While not entirely autobiographical, Crashing, which premieres this Sunday, draws generously from Holmes' harrowing real-life experience in its depiction of "Pete," a devout-Christian twentysomething who finds out his wife is cheating on him, has no money, and, to that end, is forced to jumpstart his then-fledgling career as a stand-up comic. "I just had to remember what it was like having your heart broken," Holmes deadpans by way of explanation for how he best revisited his devastated 28-year-old self. "Not only am I reimagining what it was like to go through these experiences, I also have the privilege of peppering in these fictional conversations that I wish I could have had at the time even if I wasn't ready to hear them. In some ways, it felt like cheating."

Crashing—whose title derives from Holmes' character crashing on the couch of a different friend or acquaintance in each episode ("That's how life feels," he says. "It's not a group of five friends living in one convenient huge apartment")—in many ways goes against conventional TV norms. For one, aside from Holmes' lead character, there are very few recurring cast members; the show mixes fictional events and characters with Holmes' real-life comedian friends, including Artie Lange, T.J. Miller, and Sarah Silverman. And where the central figure in many contemporary comedies is, as executive producer Judd Apatow notes, often "bad guys feeling bad about being bad," Pete, by comparison, moves through the world with a joyful naiveté. "To have someone that lives in the light a little bit," Apatow says, "I thought, 'Oh, that's new!'"

The seed for Crashing was born out of Apatow's early-2014 appearance on Holmes' now-defunct TBS talk show, The Pete Holmes Show. What began as a sketch in which Holmes pitches the comedic mastermind on potential show ideas ended with Apatow improvising, asking Holmes "What's your story for real?" and Holmes selling Apatow on Crashing years before it came to fruition. In the sketch, Apatow, who first met Holmes when he appeared on the comedian's You Made It Weird podcast in 2012, and directs the Crashing pilot, tells Holmes the show's premise about a sad-sack wannabe comedian is "too tragic and sad" for audiences. Looking back, Apatow admits with a laugh, "In truth, the worse the circumstances the more I like it. I like when people have a real story to tell."

Holmes, 37, says the twin task of telling his own story on screen while simultaneously moving along the show's plot proved a tricky proposition. "I would pitch Judd these stories that might have a little too much moping or a little too much talking," he says. "I remember laughing because he would be like, 'Well something needs to happen. Something needs to occur in the show.'" What Apatow excels at, Holmes explains—and therefore allowed the show to work—is an ability to translate real-life events and feelings into entertaining plotlines. Case in point: In the pilot episode, a beleaguered, down-on-his-luck Pete is wandering through New York City with Artie Lange when a car crash occurs. "That didn't really happen in my life," Holmes admits, "but that's what it feels like when you're in New York City and you don't feel welcome."

While Holmes says he "applauds HBO for taking a chance" on a show like Crashing, Amy Gravitt, the network executive who green-lit the show, will tell you it was a no-brainer. The idea of Holmes wearing multiple hats, and more importantly establishing himself as an auteur was incredibly appealing to the network. "I think for a comedy to define itself now it must have a clear point of view tonally as it relates to the story [its creator] want to tell," she explains. "Having somebody like Pete helps the tone stay intact and not get diluted in the process." Additionally, Gravitt adds, having Apatow—who previously worked with the network as a producer on Girls as well as Career Suicide, the forthcoming Chris Gethard comedy special—"integrally involved was incredibly important to the process."

HBO

Both Holmes and Apatow are confident that while unique and specific, the life and struggles of a stand-up comic will ultimately resonate with a broad audience.

"It's a strange thing to say, 'I'm going to spend my entire life standing on a stage in front of strangers expressing myself and trying to connect with them,' Apatow says. "But the people who do it, they have a lot to say. They're working out a lot. The world might mystify them; they're trying to decode it…they're working out emotional problems. So whoever would do that probably has a life you might want to pay attention to."

"Every human being can relate to wanting their thoughts and their feelings to be accepted and rewarded and validated," Holmes adds. "So in that way, a stand-up is similar to almost any profession. It's very simply just someone who wants to be heard and live authentically and express themselves."

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